The first Championship match of Roy Hodgson’s half-century-long coaching career was not an easy one to watch but, at the end of it, the Bristol City interim head coach was shrugging his shoulders and smiling. A seesaw second half at Charlton, stuffed full of late chances for both teams, was enough to make even the youngest coach’s heart race.
“There were a few five-minute periods where I thought: ‘This is fantastic.’ And there were a few periods where I was saying: ‘What on earth are you doing here?’” the 78-year-old smiled afterwards, victory secured in his first game back, 44 years after his first stint.
Hodgson spent the whole of his afternoon standing on the edge of his technical area. His team started well and carved Charlton open within the first three minutes when Emil Riis Jakobsen found himself clean through but fluffed his lines. Hodgson was pumping his fist not long after as Max Bird slid a pass through for Scott Twine to open the scoring.
Football has changed in the two years since Hodgson left Crystal Palace, including “the cult of the long throw”, with Charlton’s Harry Clarke launching a ball into the box within moments of kick-off here. “I only came across that in the 80s when we played Wimbledon,” he said.
